Article November 1, 2003

Purchasing Community Perspective

Marsha C. Moore, MD

J Clin Psychiatry 2003;64(suppl 17):33-34

Article Abstract

Because this piece has no abstract, we have provided for your benefit the first 3 sentences of the full text.

AdvancePCS provides pharmacy benefit management services for more than 75 million members, as well as a variety of other products and services.

In 1970, when few people had prescription drug coverage, approximately 80% of the costs of drugs were paidout-of-pocket by patients1; by 2001, the out-of-pocketcost paid by an individual on average was about 27%, according to AdvancePCS data (on file; Scottsdale, Ariz).However, health care costs have been increasing, and employers struggle to pay for these increases.’ ‹